Neil Diamond And Barbara Streisand Classic 'You Don’t Bring Me Flowers' Began As Theme Song For Sitcom

May 24, 2020 by apost team

Neil Diamond and Barbara Streisand's duet of You Don’t Bring Me Flowers released in 1978 started out as the theme song for 1977 sitcom All That Glitters.

It seems like such a famous and enduring song would have a predictable beginning. Neil Diamond writes the song, gets together with Barbara Streisand, and the two powerhouses meld their vocals in perfect harmony. Well, not exactly.

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Surprisingly, as MPR News pointed out, You Don’t Bring Me Flowers was a piece commissioned from Diamond to play as a TV theme for a show called “All that Glitters.”

The original piece was only meant to be about 45 seconds long. In what must have seemed a bad turn for Diamond at the time, the producers of the show decided to change the whole focus of the plot. Diamond’s song no longer went with the new show.

But Diamond wasn’t one to trash a good piece of songwriting. Instead he expanded the theme into the full song with the lyrics we know today. The song centers around two long time lovers who are growing apart. Each is sad about it, but neither seems able to reach across the divide and reconnect.

Neil Diamond originally recorded the song solo, as did Streisand. Both brought the tender sense of regret and longing that so many listeners could relate to.

Clever radio jockeys cane up with the idea of splicing the two versions together to force a duet. The creation was so popular that music producers and the artists themselves took notice. Before long Streisand and Diamond were in the studio making the duet official. It skyrocketed to the top of the charts. Even today, many years after its initial release, the song remains a romantic favorite around the globe, as SongFacts points out.

Ironically, the show All That Glitters never amounted to much. The best thing to come out of it was the inspiration for this classic song. It just proves that some of the greatest art comes from the humblest beginnings.

Are you a fan of Neil and Barbara? What are some of your favorite duets? Tell us in the comments below.